Every year, iLawyer Marketing conducts consumer studies to better understand how people research law firms online and what goes into their decision-making process when hiring a lawyer. For our latest study, we had 1,050 participants answer a series of questions that helped us to learn more about how everyday Americans think and act when seeking legal representation. The age of participants in our study was diverse, with 13% between the ages of 18-29, 40% between 30-44, 28% between 45-60 and 19% over 60. Nearly 64% were females and 36% were males.
Let’s jump into the data and our findings.
Question: “If you needed to hire a lawyer, what digital sources would you use to conduct research on which law firm to hire? (check all that apply)”
No surprise here, as Google still dominates as the primary way people search for attorneys online, with 92% of participants saying they would choose the king of search. I’ll state the obvious here, but if you don’t have great visibility on Google, your firm is missing out on huge amounts of potential revenue. However, many consumers use multiple sources during their research process. This is why we are big believers in multi-channel marketing.
Facebook: Facebook is the second most popular digital source, with 32% of respondents indicating they would use it in their research process of hiring a lawyer. While we need to do additional research to find out the reasons why and how consumers are using Facebook, we suspect it’s for social proof signals, to see images or videos about a firm, and to learn more about the attorneys.
Yelp: Yes, consumers are still using Yelp to look at your law firm’s reviews. Since everyone is so focused on Google reviews, many firms don’t even think about Yelp in 2024. These findings indicate that it’s not something you should ignore, especially if your reviews are below a 4-star rating. We know from previous studies that most consumers won’t hire a law firm that has less than 4-star reviews.
YouTube: 23% of participants said they would use YouTube as part of their research when trying to research law firms. Does your firm have good videos on YouTube? Are they recent? If the answer is no, you should consider adding videos or updating them. Additionally, consumers sometimes use YouTube as a search engine, so it’s another opportunity to be found by someone who needs an attorney.
ChatGPT: Nearly 21% of consumers said they would use chatGPT in their research process. This is more than double the number from a study we conducted last year, where 9% said they would use it.
Question: “If you needed to hire a lawyer within the next 90 days, how much time do you estimate it would take you to research, consult with, and then hire a law firm?”
We received a variety of responses, with the bulk of participants (73%) saying they would take at least 3 days or more. The longer the research process is, the more likely a consumer is to use more than one platform and consider more options.
This is why every law firm should be doing retargeting and multi-channel marketing.
The full range of answers by response share:
- Quick Decision Makers (1-3 days): 30.2% of respondents
- Balanced Researchers (3-7 days): 30.9% of respondents
- Thorough Investigators (7-14 days): 19.9% of respondents
- Careful Contemplators (14-30 days): 8.8% of respondents
- Rapid Responders (Less than 1 day): 6.9% of respondents
- In No Rush (30 days or more): 2.2% of respondents
Several factors affect how long people will take in their process, including the significance of their case. For example, a person who has whiplash after an accident is going to do less research than a person whose family member died in an accident.
Question: “If you were looking to hire a great law firm, where would you prefer that law firm be located?”
Not surprisingly, people want a law firm near them. Even in the age of Zoom and FaceTime, people still like the option of being able to drive over and see their attorneys in person. Nearly half of all respondents prefer a law firm that is within 30 minutes of where they live. A total of 82% said they want their attorney within 60 minutes, so clearly there is a huge preference for law firms with a physical office location nearby.
While a minority, the 18% open to remote services indicates a growing acceptance of virtual legal services.
Question: “When visiting a lawyer’s website, if you wanted to find out if you had a case, what method of contact would you prefer?”
The phone is clearly still the primary method consumers prefer when trying to find out if they have a case. Keep this in mind if your firm does not have a 24/7 call answering service because it will end up costing you leads if your calls are going to voicemail. With emails or case evaluation request forms, make sure your intake is on point, is quick to respond, and that you have an excellent multi-touch follow-up process for these leads you don’t initially connect with. If not, you are leaving revenue on the table.
One method of contact that we continue to see growth in over the last few years is chat. People today want instant answers, and chat can help satisfy consumers (if done right). Most consumers indicated a big preference for live chat with a human, compared to chatbots. That makes sense, as most chatbots used on all types of websites (I’m not just talking about law firm sites) are not very helpful. Most people want to be able to have a conversation and get immediate answers to their questions. This will change in the near future, with the emergence of much more powerful conversational AI bots that will eventually be better than the great majority of human chat agents.
Question: “How many law firms would you want to talk to before deciding on which one to hire?”
Consumers want to talk to multiple firms before deciding on which one to hire. Nearly 98% of people want to talk to 2 or more law firms. Nearly 80% of participants said they would talk to 3 or more firms. This is why having a great website is so crucial to marketing success. You need to stand out from your competitors. A visually appealing website that is built with conversion rate optimization (CRO) in mind will ultimately mean more high-quality leads and more new signed cases for your firm.
Some additional insights here:
Consumer Due Diligence: The data clearly shows us that consumers are going to do their research before hiring your law firm. Having success with your marketing isn’t as simple as just being found on Google or other sources on the web. You still need to convert your website visitors. Is there social proof of your firm being the right choice for the consumer? What do your online reviews say? Are those reviews current? Do you have video to help convince potential clients you are the best choice for them? Our study last year showed that 85% of consumers said video would help them in their decision of which law firm to hire. Ask us about our law firm video service to help you improve conversion rates.
Competitive Market: Competition amongst law firms is more competitive now than ever before. Google organics are extremely competitive. Google Ads continue to skyrocket. The average cost per signed case is increasing all over the country. If you don’t have the very best legal marketing company at your side, it’s going to be extremely tough for you to compete and win online.
Marketing Strategy Implications: Given that potential clients are likely to consider multiple options, law firms should focus on strategies that ensure they are included in a client’s consideration set. I’ll say it again, but this is why multi-channel marketing is so important. In a perfect world, you are investing your online marketing budget in Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, OTT, Connected TV (streaming ads), and even TikTok. Reach out to us if you are interested in learning about our multi-channel marketing approach.
Intake Process: With the majority of potential clients consulting multiple firms, you need to be sure your intake process is as good as it can possibly be. Are you getting back to clients right away? Is your intake staff friendly and sympathetic when on phone calls? You should have systems in place to make sure you are not losing out to the competition.
Question: “Do you trust online reviews of lawyers?:
Fake reviews are a topic of conversation that almost every law firm and every law firm marketing company have, at one time or another. We’ve all seen lots of firms engage in this. So, does this impact consumers? Not really. In regards to trusting reviews online, 90% of study participants are either neutral (38.7%), mostly trust (42.5%), or completely trust (8.8%) law firm reviews online. Thankfully, the FTC is not ok with fake reviews. Recently, they announced a final ruling on fake reviews and fake testimonials. Just say no when it comes to fake reviews.
Question: “If you visited a lawyer’s website and it looked old or outdated, would that impact your perception of the firm? (Check all that apply)”
One of the most common mistakes we see here at iLawyer Marketing is law firms that don’t understand the importance of their website’s appearance, functionality, and technical optimization. Your law firm’s website is the foundation of your marketing success. Yet many firms have their foundation built on quicksand (e.g., a website that is not search engine friendly, has conversion rate optimization issues, low budget, looks outdated, or has many technical SEO issues). The bottom line is that when your site does not impress your visitors, you are going to have a lower volume of leads, and in turn, fewer new signed cases.
Here are the takeaways:
- The majority of respondents indicated that an outdated website would negatively impact their perception of the law firm.
- The top concern (44%) was that it might raise doubts about the quality of the law firm, suggesting that website appearance is closely tied to perceived success and competence.
- A significant portion (42%) associated an outdated website with a lack of cutting-edge technology in the firm’s practice, indicating that website design is seen as a reflection of the firm’s overall technological capabilities.
- A little over a third of respondents (35%) equated an outdated website with less success compared to firms with more impressive websites.
- Nearly a quarter of respondents (24%) said they might leave the website altogether, highlighting the importance of first impressions in the legal vertical.
- 18% said it would not impact their perception at all, meaning that for the vast majority (82%), website appearance does matter.
- The same percentage (18%) thought an outdated website might indicate financial constraints, suggesting that some people view website quality as a reflection of a firm’s financial health.
Question: “What social media sites do you use?”
The number of people in the U.S. who use these main social media sites is enormous:
- Facebook: 230 million monthly active users
- YouTube: 247 million monthly active users
- Instagram: 140 million monthly active users
- TikTok: 110 million monthly active users
- Twitter: 76 million monthly active users
Here’s how respondents reported their use of each of these:
These apps are used by people in all age brackets. For example, TikTok isn’t just for the youth. Here’s a breakdown of the usage by age range in our study:
A large percentage of the population in the U.S. is using most of these social sites, which means there’s potential for advertising to the hundreds of millions of consumers on these platforms. What are some of the ways your firm may want to utilize these sites?
- Targeted Advertising: Depending on what types of cases you are looking to generate, some of these sites are ideal for helping your firm generate quality leads and new signed cases. For most firms, this means paid campaigns. However, most paid campaigns will fail without smarter approaches to advertising on these platforms. This is where iLawyer Marketing may be able to help your law firm.
- Cost-Effective Marketing: Google Ads are getting incredibly expensive. We are still having success with our clients (ask us to show you our results) on Google, but in most cases, we can generate lower cost per lead numbers on social. On Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, we are currently having great success targeting in-market audiences with strategies that utilize AI and powerful data providers.
- Brand Presence: With such high social media usage across multiple platforms, having a strong, consistent brand presence on these sites is a powerful way to stay top-of-mind with potential clients. Brand advertising can also help with your organic Google rankings.
- Competitive Edge: Law firms that effectively leverage these popular social media platforms may gain an advantage over competitors who are less active or present on social media.
- Trust Building: Regular, helpful content on these platforms can help law firms build trust and authority in their field, which is crucial when potential clients are deciding which firm to hire.
Questions?
There is lots of information to unpack here, but we are happy to answer any questions you might have. Feel free to reach out to us today!